Contact

Search

Search the entire Ciao Italia site: recipes, pages and blog posts.

Goodbye Summer

The waning days of summer are here. Days are getting shorter, ads for back to school are everywhere and home gardens are at their last hurrah. For me that is the signal to sweep the garden clean of as many vegetables as possible and put them by as they say for future use. Here are some ways to preserve home-grown produce

1) Zucchini: shred it and wrap and freeze in small amounts for use in soups, stews and as a binder for meatloaf

2) Tomatoes: make tomato sauce or dry them and put them in olive oil for use in salads.

3) Parsley: mince then wrap in small ¼ inch amounts and freeze for use in soups, stews, sauces, omelets

4) Eggplant: make eggplant parmigiana in aluminum pans and freeze. Make caponata.

5) Green and yellow beans: Cut into thirds and cook with diced zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant for a hearty minestrone soup

6) Swiss chard and kale:steam, squeeze out water, chop, wrap and freeze for use in soups and stews

7) Basil: remove stems and freeze leaves in sandwich bags for use in soups, stews, sauces. Make pesto sauce.